In the image, I am carrying a Serpenti Forever Bag combined with the Bvlgari High Jewellery Piano Gemstone Necklace in Onyx and Diamond.

The Serpenti Icon

Making an icon requires the right combination of time and timelessness. It’s an equation mastered by Bvlgari. Decades after its inception, Serpenti—whose snake motif has become a distinct signifier of the brand—remains one of its most recognisable collections. 

“The history of Serpenti is very unique. It’s something that you can find in different cultures and centuries,” says Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, creative director of timepieces. As for Bulgari’s interpretation, “it’s made with very pure shapes,” he says. “It’s part of the Italian design rules to play with pure shapes and generate new aesthetics.” It is this design ideology that creates an obvious kinship across the brand’s diverse range of products.“

The serpent first appeared in Bvlgari’s jewellery collection in the late 1940s in the form of a yellow-gold watch, distinguishable by its hand-coiled precious metal—or tubogas—bracelet. Just after World War II and brothers Giorgio and Constantino Bulgari were tapping into Rome’s newfound craving for modernity.

“It was a moment where there was the energy to look at the future and to forget the past,” says Lucia Boscaini, brand and heritage curator of Bvlgari. “The piece was born out of a search for an object that was not meant to be too showy, but rather functional and modern.” That concept underpins current iterations, which now encompass timepieces and accessories, in addition to jewellery. The house remains steadfast in its dedication to forward-thinking design and time-honoured craftsmanship.

In the decades that followed, the Serpenti line continued to change its skin. During the 1960s, jewellery pieces became more colourful and creative with the use of enamel; the ’70s welcomed casual jewellery and watch options, and expanded into accessories, such as belts; the ’80s were marked by the popularity of the tubogas watch as a status symbol. Then in 2011, in what was also a sign of rebirth and transformation, Serpenti was reimagined, staking its claim as a contemporary design benchmark with the launch of the first Serpenti handbag, which soon became one of Bulgari’s icons of glamour, and in 2016 launched the new Serpenti Seduttori fine jewellery collection.

“There was a desire of the company to revamp the collection, not really thinking of it as just a collection, but thinking of it as an icon,” says Boscaini. Doing so required tapping into what was already beloved about it. “From the past to now, the fact that it’s very wearable has been important, but you can always recognise that it’s a Bvlgari piece,” adds Lucia Silvestri, creative director of jewellery. Since then, the snakehead has become a signifier of Bvlgari across all its categories.